Qualities of a Good E-commerce Solution for Your Website

If you are a business person aspiring to take your business online with an e-commerce website, there is a time you will be required to choose an excellent e-commerce platform. This may prove to be a nerve-wracking task especially if you do not have any web development skills. The good thing, however, is that there are many e-commerce platforms that you can use to create a compelling website. There are two types of solutions to choose from self-hosted and hosted. Since choosing one is a one-time decision, you need to have the following tips to guide you through selecting the most appropriate e-commerce solution provider.

1. Its Payment Plan

Here is where your budget comes to play. For small businesses, it sounds much more affordable to shop for a platform such as the e-commerce solution Shopify, which only asks for a monthly fee. Avoid those that ask for a specific percentage of product sale as in the end; they are more costly to the e-commerce store.

2. Is it Hosted or Self Hosted?

The advantage of having a self –hosted platform for your online business is that it allows the business owner to modify the e-commerce site appearance easily. These platforms always come with e-commerce websites templates, and if the looks of your website are not any more appealing than they were previously, you can efficiently use a template of your choice to edit it. Also, they have e-commerce websites design tools which further helps you in designing your website template to look much better. Despite many platforms’ ability to allow one to modify their sites in the live environment, better results are obtained when you use a self-hosted solution.

3. Will The Platform Support The Type Of Your Products?

In the e-commerce websites, people sell either digital or physical product. Different platforms may support different types of products. In short, physical products are eligible for shipping and if you are dealing with such, choosing an e-commerce solution that can support the business is vital.

4. Think about the End-User

The website software should have excellent tools to develop the site and make it user-friendly. Best free e-commerce website builder has tools that can be used to make it such that your customers will enjoy a seamless shopping experience. For example, it has necessary tools to condense the check-out page process to just a single page. Some eliminate the aspect of clients setting an account before they make a purchase.

5. Payment Method

Most platforms accept PayPal as their payment method when buying a platform. Problem brews when you have issues with this payment platform, and especially if they do not allow 3rd party payment options. Go for one that you’d manage to pay without hurdles.